 When my wife, Priscilla, and I moved to Hereford from southern California ten years ago – we felt that we had come home. We had birded in this area since the mid 60’s and on the day I retired we made a bee–line for this area, the most biodiverse in the United States. Our yard in beautiful Carr Canyon, right on Carr Wash is a constantly changing panorama of bird, mammal, reptile and insect life. We have documented 147 bird species and 113 butterfly species. And the Mexican state of Sonora is only a few miles away. We feel truly blessed! And we hope to share our enthusiasm for the area with all of you.
When almost by default I was elected President of the Festival – my first decision was to try to move it back to its roots in Sierra Vista, not only because we always felt that it is a much easier place to hold the Festival logistically and because it is only minutes from the best birding in the country, but also selfishly – because it was right down the road from our home.
The Windemere Hotel and Conference Center [link] has been most cooperative – giving every strange request that we made a resounding “We can do that!” It is a perfect place to hold a Festival such as ours with everything occurring under one roof, plenty of parking, and proximity to all of life’s many necessities. The Sierra Vista Convention and Visitors’ Bureau is also giving us substantial support and has welcomed the Festival back with open arms.
 We would also like to thank all the local businesses that have supported us by advertising in this brochure and hope you will stop in, say hello and tell them that you are in town for the Festival.
Many thanks also to the private donors who have helped us out this year and
to the volunteers who are supporting our efforts by doing a lot of the grunt
work, including the Cunninghams and the Emieighs who are handling the tough
job of registration and Ann Hartfiel who will be setting up and supervising
the vendor and exhibitor areas.
We are also very fortunate to have Scott Weidensaul, naturalist and Pulitzer Prize nominated author, not only give the Keynote Address – but also participate actively in the Festival by co-leading field trips and giving another talk at the Welcome Ceremony on Thursday. He is a wonderful speaker and a genuinely nice guy!
Finally I would like to acknowledge the Festival’s Board of Directors. We are lucky to have representatives of the BLM, the Forest Service, the U.
S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Vista
education community and a few people who just want to help any way they can.
Thanks folks!
And I would especially like to single out the Sierra Vista office of the BLM who is partnering with us and providing the vans and audio-visual equipment for our presentations.
We have a wonderful selection of speakers and field trip leaders this year and we all have one goal – to see that the participants have a great time, see lots of birds and have a truly educational experience. I look forward to meeting you the beginning of August!
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